Associate Professor, Deakin University, School of Law, Melbourne, Australia.
Research fellow, University of Bristol, Centre for Ethics in Medicine, UK.
Med Law Rev. 2020 Dec 17;28(4):696-730. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwaa029.
In this article, we examine emerging challenges to medical law arising from healthcare globalisation concerning disputes between parents and healthcare professionals in the care and treatment of critically ill children. We explore a series of issues emerging in English case law concerning children's medical treatment that are signs of increasing globalisation. We argue that these interrelated issues present distinct challenges to healthcare economics, clinical practice, and the operation of the law. First, social media leverages the emotive aspects of cases; secondly, the Internet provides unfiltered information about novel treatments and access to crowdfunding to pay for them. Finally, the removal of barriers to global trade and travel allows child medical tourism to emerge as the nexus of these issues. These aspects of globalisation have implications for medicine and the law, yet child medical tourism has been little examined. We argue that it affects a range of interests, including children's rights, parents' rights as consumers, and the interests of society in communalised healthcare. Identifying putative solutions and a research agenda around these issues is important. While cases involving critically ill children are complex and emotionally fraught, the interconnectedness of these issues requires the law to engage and respond coherently to the impacts of healthcare globalisation.
本文探讨了医疗全球化背景下，父母与医疗专业人员在危重病儿童护理和治疗方面的纠纷所引发的医学法律新挑战。我们研究了英国案例法中一系列与儿童医疗相关的新兴问题，这些问题是全球化日益加剧的迹象。我们认为，这些相互关联的问题对医疗经济、临床实践和法律运作带来了明显的挑战。首先，社交媒体利用了案件的情感方面；其次，互联网提供了关于新型治疗方法的无过滤信息，并提供了众筹渠道来支付这些治疗费用。最后，全球贸易和旅行壁垒的消除使得儿童医疗旅游成为这些问题的交汇点。这些全球化方面对医学和法律都有影响，但儿童医疗旅游却很少受到关注。我们认为，它影响了一系列利益，包括儿童权利、父母作为消费者的权利以及社会对共同化医疗保健的利益。围绕这些问题确定潜在的解决方案和研究议程很重要。虽然涉及重病儿童的案件复杂且情绪激动，但这些问题的相互关联性要求法律连贯一致地应对医疗全球化的影响。
